14 
THE HUMMING-BIRD. 
the trees, within which they can be hidden, 
and yet see all that is going on. The birds 
are perched round them, suspecting no danger ; 
but there comes an arrow out of this leafy 
bower, and strikes down first one, and then 
another, till the natives think they have 
enough. They cut off the legs, and stuff the 
bodies with spices, and make a famous trade 
of selling them to Europeans. People used 
to fancy, from the legs being always gone, 
that the bird had no legs at all, and the 
natives pretended this was the case ; and, what 
was more miraculous, they said that it had no 
stomach, and could not take any food. So, for 
a long time, it w^as thought to feed on the dew, 
and never to alight upon the ground. This 
is why it has been called the ''Bird of Paradise.'" 
CHAPTER II. 
THE HUMMING-BIRD. 
In the woods of the tropics the little sun-bird 
has its home. It is almost as tiny as the 
humming-bird, and is called sun-bird, be- 
